


the blood of him who loved the fight

by serenfire



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternative Universe: Soulmates, Demisexual Iris West, F/M, M/M, Major Spoilers for 1x23, Thallenweek2015, this is sad I'm kind of sorry but it's also very important to me so not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-05-25
Packaged: 2018-04-01 04:19:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4005658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenfire/pseuds/serenfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eddie can see color. I can see color. We both don’t have a significant other who can. This is probably not a coincidence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the blood of him who loved the fight

**Author's Note:**

> @anyone I know irl: do not read thanks

As Barry has just recovered from an honest-to-god coma, he doesn’t register the flakes of color that fill his vision over the first few days of consciousness. He’s busy _running_ and relishing the feeling of being alive again. 

He notices when he wakes up from a nightmare of _that night_ , windows and vials shattering and the explosion tossing him to the ground like a plane crash. 

He notices when he opens his eyes and scrambles to sit on the bed, hands vibrating. He focuses on the dim light from the lamp next to his head, and thinks _that’s yellow._

He doesn’t know where the knowledge of that color comes from, and so he panics. He turns on all the lights in his room and sorts through his clothes. Apparently he’s collected too many red hoodies without realizing it. He names the colors in his mind, the words coming unbidden. He notices a white sock and black skinny jeans that have stayed the same, but he also runs his hands through a green scarf and a purple collared shirt. 

Barry holds up his hands in the light, and notices the light brown (not gray) skin. He looks in his bathroom mirror and combs through his chocolate hair, noticing a red pimple on his chin. 

“Who did I meet?” he mumbles to himself. He’s brushed past so many new people since waking up again, and if he’d been more lucid he would have _noticed_ the slow bleeding of color into his vision like a normal person. 

The revelation is - well, Barry’s made peace years ago with the fact that Iris wasn’t his soulmate, but now someone else is walking around that the universe is pushing Barry’s way. Someone who isn’t Iris. 

Barry doesn’t feel himself shivering as he rearranges his shirts by color, his clock reading 4:09 in block neon red letters. 

* 

Barry catches Iris eyeing up the new Detective - whose nickname in Keystone was Pretty Boy, so he’s obviously not straight and maybe Barry’s got a chance - but he can’t feel jealous because he’s got a soulmate in the vicinity and it’s a bit more important than _hey, look at that superb jawline._

Then he catches the Detective reciprocating Iris’ interests (mostly by staring into her eyes and racking up the tension in the _middle of the precinct_ ), and Barry confronts Iris about it, because he’s watching out for her, and also he wants to know if this means he’s got no chance of getting into Eddie’s pants any time soon. 

“Are you and Eddie serious?” Barry asks. 

Iris blinks at him, looking around the lobby self consciously to check for Joe. “How did _you_ know?” 

“You’re being super obvious,” Barry says. “I just - are you seeing, you know, color?” 

“You mean are we _destined by the universe_?” Iris rolls her eyes. “For your information, I don’t know him enough to be attracted to him, so ask me again in a few months.” 

“Okay,” Barry stutters. “Um. I have to do a thing, by the way. Nice talk. Just wanted to catch up, you know, and now I’m going to go.” 

Barry escapes to a bathroom stall, where he controls his hyperventilation with limited effect. If Iris’s theory about physical attraction equalling colors and not just meeting your soulmate equals colors, then Barry’s apparently _head over heels_ for someone he doesn’t even _know_. 

Which is great, really. Super great. 

* 

The Flash risks death by a bullet storm to save Eddie Thawne’s life, and as Barry stands out of the line of fire looking at the Detective leaned against the wall and wheezing, Eddie laughs. Barry feels his heart skip a beat at the wonderful sound, and his throat shakes with the effort to keep from blurting out “What?” without vibrating his vocal cords. Barry clears his throat and gestures for the Detective to continue his thought. 

Eddie points at Barry’s costume. “That’s a terrible color combination,” he tells Barry, in all seriousness. “Like, at least tone the yellow down a few shades. Make it more pastel.” 

“Thanks for the input. I’ll tell my fashion designer.” Barry struggles from not actively reacting to the fact that Eddie can _see in color_ and that Iris cannot, because even if Iris’ demisexuality means that her colors might come later in a relationship, both partners’ eyes are supposed to manifest at the same time. 

Barry leaves Eddie and returns to the showdown with the metahumans before he can let his mind _hope_ , even a little bit. 

* 

“You _sure_ you can’t see in color?” Barry asks Iris. 

She sighs. “We’ve been through this before, Bar. I don’t know Eddie like that yet. Why the sudden interest?” 

Barry fiddles with the yellow number two pencil threaded between his fingers. “I think Eddie can see colors,” he says, and hopes to God that he doesn’t sound like a lovesick preteen. _Eddie can see color. I can see color. We both don’t have a significant other who can. This is probably not a coincidence, because the universe isn’t that fucked up._

Iris looks completely unaffected at this revelation. “Yeah. We’ve talked about it. It’s not a problem.” 

“Wait, so his soulmate isn’t you?” Barry could _throw confetti_ right now, he’s not even joking. 

“Look, Bar, you don’t have to worry about our relationship. I can take care of myself, okay? Eddie doesn’t know who his soulmate is, but yes, it did happen after we met, and it doesn’t mean he doesn’t _feelings_ for me.” 

“Do you know the exact time it happened?” 

Iris shrugs. “You were still in a coma, Bar. This is one investigation you can’t help with, I’m sorry. But don’t worry about us, okay? We’ll be fine.” 

* 

Eddie’s standing in his pristine ironed suit when Barry takes off the Flash’s mask in front of him. 

In response to the revelation, Eddie stands with his mouth parted, lips still shining with saliva, one eyebrow raised, sandy hair unruly. 

Barry really can’t afford to get a boner in skintight leather, so he drifts behind a desk to continue the conversation. 

After Joe leaves the two of them to talk, Eddie says, “I can’t believe you’re a vigilante.” 

“Me neither.” 

“And you haven’t told Iris.” 

Barry raises an eyebrow. “Why would I tell her if I’m trying to protect her?” 

“In my experience, it’s generally hard to keep things from the people we love.” 

Barry squeezes his throat to prevent giggling, because _that_ was an opening for an admission. “I don’t love Iris, you know. Not like that. I thought I did, but -“ He twists his mouth. “You probably don’t want to hear my spiel.” 

“I thought you could see color because of her,” Eddie says, puzzled. 

Barry shakes his head. “I don’t know why I can,” he says. _And you’re like the only remotely hot person around here so I really hope it’s you._ “But hey, I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth. Seeing more than grayscale helps exponentially with my cases.” 

Eddie nods. “That makes sense.” 

* 

Eddie shows Barry the ring he’s going to use to propose to Iris. It’s been so long since Barry has _actively_ crushed on the Detective, long after his flings with Linda and Hartley and Cisco, and he’s been pretty sure that he was completely over it, but his heart does a 180 and flips at the sight of Eddie holding out the ring to him. 

Barry’s hyperactive imagination fills in the pieces. Eddie put the dates together and realized his completely unequivocal love for Barry, and decided to take a bold and unprecedented step. 

Instead, Eddie says, “I’m going to propose to Iris,” and he sounds giddy. 

Of course he feels elated. Barry schools his features into something that represents excitement. “Good for you, man.” He means it. Eddie’s obviously in love with Iris, and Barry’s not in love with anyone, but they can both see in color so everyone wins. 

* 

A gunshot cracks, and Harrison Wells’ focus snaps up to the landing, where Eddie isn’t standing doing surveillance any longer. Wells grasps at the echo of a wound in his chest and screams as his body evaporates into the air, ripped from existence. 

Barry can’t _breathe_ as the color yellow is ripped from his vision, and all the lights illuminating the cracked glass and remnants of STAR Labs’ finest turn a shade of off-white. He tries to scream as he claws his way up to the landing, where Eddie is lying and coughing blood, handgun still gripped in his palm. 

“I chose my own destiny,” Eddie is repeating over and over again, locking gazes with Barry as if to get his point across without any room left for doubt. 

“You can’t do this to me,” Barry grits his teeth in the shadow of Iris’ screams. “We were made for each other, you can’t just -“ 

The color brown fades with a snap and a cough, and Eddie’s skin is translucent white, stretched and pale. Barry presses a hand over the bloody mess on Eddie’s chest as if to hold all of the damage inside him. 

“You can’t die on me,” Barry sobs, even as Eddie’s eyes still and Iris rushes down to grab Eddie’s hands. “You can’t - I can see in color because of you. We’re supposed to - _you’re not supposed to die!_ ” 

Eddie can’t hear him, can’t do anything but slowly stop coughing up blood in his throat and twitch his hands until they, too, move no more. 

Barry sits in the maelstrom looking at the dark scarlet blood dripping off his red leather gloves, while the rest of the world fades in black and white. 

He can’t - 

This isn’t how it’s supposed to end. 

Iris and Joe almost carry him out of the particle accelerator and sit him down on the floor, leaning against the wall. Joe says, “There’s blood on your hands,” and moves to clean it up. 

Barry yanks his hands back. His suit will be forever stained as the liquid continues to drip from his shaking hands. “It’s the only color I can see,” Barry says, “so don’t you dare - don’t you _dare_ -” 

He can’t finish the sentence. 

Iris finally gets it, and she starts crying anew. Barry closes his eyes so his tears don’t stream down his face. 

Joe doesn’t get it. “Your colors are fading?” 

Barry nods, pressing a hand to his face before he remembers the blood coating it, and he can feel the lifeless wetness on his cheek, drying. 

“It was Eddie,” Barry tries to say. “He was my - _fuck_ , I don’t even now. I never got the chance, I never -“ 

Iris wraps him in a hug. “It’s okay,” she soothes. “Let it out.” 

So Barry does, sobbing against her shoulder. His vision blurs, and all that he can see is the red covering his hands, forever embalmed in his memory before it too blinks into grayscale. 

**Author's Note:**

> My personal headcanon is that Eddie first saw Barry while he was in the coma by the way. 
> 
> Watch me continue to be complete Thallen trash on my [tumblr](http://www.tylerjosephstoast.tumblr.com)


End file.
